Just over 2,000 years ago in Roman controlled Palestine, the most important birth that ever has or ever will occur, forever changed the world and brought hope to mankind. The unfathomable became a reality. God the Son came to earth as a helpless baby in the person of Jesus Christ. The Creator came to live as a man within the realm of his earthly creation. Emmanuel – God with us.
Royalty? Riches? Prestige? Popularity? Rather, humility. God choose a teenage peasant named Mary to carry and care for his Son. Jesus’ adoptive father was a simple, humble carpenter named Joseph. Mary and Joseph resided in the small town of Nazareth that likely had no more than one hundred residents. Philippians 2:7 reveals that Jesus humbly and willingly chose to enter the world in the likeness of man and in the form a servant. How amazing to ponder that Jesus, being fully and equally God - the exact representation of the Father’s character and person (Isa 9:6, Jn 5:18, 10:30, 14:9, 2 Cor 4:4, Col 1:15, 1 Tim 3:16, Titus 2:13, Col 2:9, Rev 19:16), arrived in a manger with none but a few shepherd visitors. Shepherding was perhaps the loneliest and lowliest profession of that day, yet God chose to reveal with magnificent angelic majesty the coming of his Son to them. What a profound message of God’s heart for all people regardless of earthly status, as well as a symbolic picture of mankind’s spiritual condition that Christ came to redeem!
Despite the Jews’ overwhelming rejection of Jesus, his arrival was neither unpredicted nor unexpected. The entire Old Testament pointed towards the coming of the promised Messiah. The first glimpse of this promise is seen in Genesis 3, which has been termed the protoevangel. After the fall of man, God declares that the offspring of the woman will bruise the serpent’s head. This pronouncement foreshadows the crushing blow that God in Christ would deal to Satan through his atonement on the cross and resurrection. Continuing to reveal glimpses of his redemption plan through Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Exodus, the Law, the Levitical sacrificial system and ordinances, Israel’s judges, Israel’s prophets, Israel’s kings (especially David), and the abundance of directly prophetic passages that foretell of the Messiah and God’s future New Covenant, God sets the stage for the entrance of the promised Savior.
It’s nothing short of astounding to fathom the simplicity and the majesty juxtaposed in that Bethlehem manger. Sovereign over all circumstances, yet there was no room for Him in the inn. Maker and ruler of the cosmos gasped for his first breath and experienced his first tears. The King of kings and Lord of lords was wrapped in swaddling clothes, not royal blankets. The Great I AM was surrounded by farm animals that he created. His earthly parents cared for and sustained his life, yet he made them and sustained their existence!
Rather than merely reading the biblical accounts of Christ’s birth at a surface level, let us always meditate on the awe-inspiring depth they contain. May the profundity of our Savior’s willingness to be born as one of us constantly draw our hearts to praise his worthy name!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Our Glorious Savior: The Pre-incarnate Son
One of the often overlooked and under-discussed glories of our Savior is his eternal existence. Jesus’ birth, earthly life, atoning work on the cross, and his pending return are frequently known and taught. Although Christ’s eternality is firmly entrenched in orthodox Christian faith and creeds, perhaps modern cultural and “intellectual” reasoning undermine the frequency and popularity of its teaching. Scripture may be less descriptive of this fact than other aspects of the Son’s existence, yet it unquestionably paints an essential and captivating piece essential for understanding the beautiful mosaic of Christ.
Chapter one of John’s gospel introduces Jesus as God, existing eternally with God the Father and Holy Spirit (vv. 1-2). Colossians chapter one adds that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (v. 19).” Jesus provides additional insight into his eternal preexistence during his intense dialogue with the Pharisees recorded in John 8. Jesus reveals to them, “before Abraham was, I am (v. 58).” This is one of many instances where Jesus refers to himself including the phrase “I am,” which was never received warmly by the religious Jews who responded by calling him a blasphemer and attempting to stone him. Why? Jesus purposefully harkens back to God revealing his eternal name to Moses before the Exodus, which was I AM.
Being God, Jesus is also Lord over all creation, and always has been. He is revealed as the agent of creative work for all things (Jn 1:3-4, 9-10). In greater detail, Paul states in Colossians, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities —all things were created through him and for him” (1:16). The Son’s role in creation did not (and does not) cease with the original work, for he holds together all things (1:17). Without the Son, nothing would exist. If it were possible for him to cease existing, so would the entire universe!
Before Christ came to earth as a baby, even predating his name being revealed as Jesus, the Old Testament provides several indications of God revealing himself to men in the likeness of a man. Many Christians have understood these appearances to be the pre-incarnate Son because the New Testament clearly teaches that no one has seen the Father (Jn 1:18; 1 Tim 6:16; 1 Jn 4:12), and furthermore, the Father is invisible (Col. 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17). Examples of these instances are seen in Abraham’s many conversations with a bodily person identified as the Lord (Gen 17:1-4, 9-10, 15-16, 22; Gen 18:1-3, 10), Jacob’s all-night wrestling match with God (Gen 32:24-30), and Moses’ encounter with the angel of the LORD in the burning bush that reveals himself as God (Ex 3:2-6). Arguably, God walking in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:8), the commander of the army of the LORD that appeared to Joshua on the march to Jericho (Josh 5:13-15), and the appearance of a fourth person in the fiery furnace that Nebuchadnezzar likened to a son of the gods (Dan 3:22-25) are additional occurrences.
The Son’s eternal and omnipotent nature must be a truth we cherish and proclaim. In doing so, God’s glory is magnified in light of Christ Jesus becoming flesh to live among us and ultimately enduring the punishment due us. May we proclaim, as one day will every creature in heaven and earth, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
Chapter one of John’s gospel introduces Jesus as God, existing eternally with God the Father and Holy Spirit (vv. 1-2). Colossians chapter one adds that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (v. 19).” Jesus provides additional insight into his eternal preexistence during his intense dialogue with the Pharisees recorded in John 8. Jesus reveals to them, “before Abraham was, I am (v. 58).” This is one of many instances where Jesus refers to himself including the phrase “I am,” which was never received warmly by the religious Jews who responded by calling him a blasphemer and attempting to stone him. Why? Jesus purposefully harkens back to God revealing his eternal name to Moses before the Exodus, which was I AM.
Being God, Jesus is also Lord over all creation, and always has been. He is revealed as the agent of creative work for all things (Jn 1:3-4, 9-10). In greater detail, Paul states in Colossians, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities —all things were created through him and for him” (1:16). The Son’s role in creation did not (and does not) cease with the original work, for he holds together all things (1:17). Without the Son, nothing would exist. If it were possible for him to cease existing, so would the entire universe!
Before Christ came to earth as a baby, even predating his name being revealed as Jesus, the Old Testament provides several indications of God revealing himself to men in the likeness of a man. Many Christians have understood these appearances to be the pre-incarnate Son because the New Testament clearly teaches that no one has seen the Father (Jn 1:18; 1 Tim 6:16; 1 Jn 4:12), and furthermore, the Father is invisible (Col. 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17). Examples of these instances are seen in Abraham’s many conversations with a bodily person identified as the Lord (Gen 17:1-4, 9-10, 15-16, 22; Gen 18:1-3, 10), Jacob’s all-night wrestling match with God (Gen 32:24-30), and Moses’ encounter with the angel of the LORD in the burning bush that reveals himself as God (Ex 3:2-6). Arguably, God walking in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:8), the commander of the army of the LORD that appeared to Joshua on the march to Jericho (Josh 5:13-15), and the appearance of a fourth person in the fiery furnace that Nebuchadnezzar likened to a son of the gods (Dan 3:22-25) are additional occurrences.
The Son’s eternal and omnipotent nature must be a truth we cherish and proclaim. In doing so, God’s glory is magnified in light of Christ Jesus becoming flesh to live among us and ultimately enduring the punishment due us. May we proclaim, as one day will every creature in heaven and earth, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
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